3sixØ Architecture
3sixØ Architecture
Projects
Architecture as Art William Morgan, Architectural Writer
At 3sixØ the craft of architecture is practiced as an art. Their work employs contemporary materials and methods, but is based upon the eye and the pencil. The practice of architecture demands ethical responsibility, but it also requires flexibility. The design spirit at 3sixØ thus combines the sensibilities of the painter, poet, and musician, as well as the single focus of the research scientist, the dreams of the garage inventor, and the fortitude of the spiritual pilgrim. 3sixØ: the very name implies a complete circle— the dome of the Pantheon, or all degrees of viewpoint. That all-encompassing vision cannot be separated from principals Kyna Leski and Chris Bardt's roles as educators at the Rhode Island School of Design—one of the rare architecture programs within an art school. As teachers they
are able to articulate points of philosophy as well as the nature of materials, to harness theoretical thinking to solve the gritty problems of building. Applying that universality, the firm tackles projects that range from furniture to the urban landscape. The design for a very public monument in Washington features granite steles that radiate out from a central core in an ever-changing pattern that is as primal as Stonehenge, as sophisticated as a new computer language. The bending and shaping of light in a country church speaks of their love of movement. Wavelike cast glass blocks transform a simple bench into a sensual sculpture. 3sixØ reminds us that the very best architecture satisfies practical needs while continually challenging us to think outside the circle.
CONTENTS
Cottage in Woods Foster, RI
The Achilles Project Boston, MA
Three Pier Bridge Providence, RI
Wild Goose Point Residence North Kingstown, RI
STIX Restaurant & Lounge Boston, MA
2012 Yeosu Pavilion Yeosu, Korea
Pettaquamscutt River Residence Saunderstown, RI
Shepherd of the Valley Hope, RI
Museum of Polish History Warsaw, Poland
Circa Restaurant Memphis, TN
Biltmore Porte Cochère Providence, RI
Lumière Salon Providence, RI
MLK National Memorial Washington, D.C.
33 Restaurant & Lounge Boston, MA
TKTS New York, NY
Community MusicWorks Providence, RI
Sun Shelter New York, NY
Old Stone House Restaurant, Spa & Inn Little Compton, RI
Luxottica Sun Shop for Bloomingdale's
Turned Wooden Bowl Vienna, Austria
Au Bon Pain Boston, MA
Atlanta History Center Atlanta, GA
H 2 0 Furniture Bangkok, Thailand
Paschke Danskin Loft Providence, RI Eastside Addition Providence, RI Wildflour Vegan Bakery & Juice Bar Pawtucket, RI
Silver Design Award Rhode Island Monthly Magazine Residential/New Construction Category Cottage in Woods 2013
Honor Award American Institute of Architects / RI Interior Category Paschke Danskin Loft 2011
Merit Award American Institute of Architects / RI Commercial / Industrial Category Au Bon Pain 2009
Merit Award AIA New England Pettaquamscutt River Residence 2012
Honor Award American Institute of Architects / RI Residential Category Pettaquamscutt River Residence 2011
Merit Award American Institute of Architects / RI Residential Category Eastside Addition 2009
Honor Award American Institute of Architects / RI Commercial Category Wildflour Vegan Bakery and Juice Bar 2011
Merit Award American Institute of Architects / RI Adaptive Reuse Category Stone House Inn 2009
Gold Design Award Rhode Island Monthly Magazine Residential Interior Category Paschke Danskin Loft 2011
Merit Award American Institute of Architects / RI Interiors Category Stone House Barn 2009
Gold Design Award Rhode Island Monthly Magazine Residential Renovation Category Pettaquamscutt River Residence 2011
Merit Award Faith and Form Religious Architecture New Facilities Category Shepherd of the Valley 2009
Silver Design Award Rhode Island Monthly Magazine Commercial Renovation Category Wildflour Vegan Bakery and Juice Bar 2011
Gold Design Award Rhode Island Monthly Magazine Commercial Construction Category Shepherd of the Valley 2009
Silver Design Award Rhode Island Monthly Magazine Commercial Category Stone House Barn 2010
Silver Design Award Rhode Island Monthly Magazine Residential/New Construction Category Eastside Addition 2009
Merit Award AIA New England Wildflour Vegan Bakery & Juice Bar 2012 Merit Award American Institute of Architects / RI Unbuilt Community MusicWorks 2012 Award Unbuilt Architecture and Design Boston Society of Architects / AIA Three Pier Bridge (As Studio Providence Collaboration) 2011 Honor Award American Institute of Architects / RI Unbuilt Category Three Pier Bridge (As Studio Providence Collaboration) 2011 Honor Award American Institute of Architects / RI Unbuilt Category Yeosu Thematic Pavillion 2011
AWARDS
Best of Rhode Island Editor’s Picks: Rhode Island Monthly Magazine Custom Furniture Category H20 Furniture 2009
Honor Award - Citation for Design Boston Society of Architects / AIA BSA Honor Awards Achilles Project 2008
Record Interior Architectural Record STIX Restaurant 2008
Merit Award Interior Design Magazine Best of Year Awards STIX Restaurant 2008
Excellence in Construction Award Associated Builders and Contractors Circa Restaurant 2008 Honor Award American Institute of Architects / RI Commercial Category Achilles Project 2008 Honor Award American Institute of Architects / RI Educational / Institutional Category Shepherd of the Valley ChapeI 2008 Honor Award Boston Society of Architects / AIA Interior Architecture Category Circa Restaurant 2008 Citation for Design Boston Society of Architects / AIA Interior Architecture Category STIX Restaurant 2008
Honor Award American Institute of Architects / RI Commercial Category Circa Restaurant 2007 Merit Award American Institute of Architects / RI Interiors Category STIX Restaurant 2007 Gold Design Award Rhode Island Monthly Magazine Commercial Interior Category Lumiere Salon 2004 Special Citation Providence Preservation Society Lumiere Salon 2003 Honor Award American Institute of Architects / RI Lumiere Salon (with Wilbur Yoder) 2003
Design Vanguard Architectural Record (chosen as one of ten firms internationally) 2002 Gold Design Award Rhode Island Monthly Magazine Commercial Construction Category 33 Restaurant 2002 First Place Shinkenchiku Residential Design Competition Dream House 1998 First Place Sun Shelter Competition AIA New York Chapter & the Van Alen Institute 1997 Winner Young Architect Competition Architectural League of New York 1997
Rhode Island Monthly “2013 Design Awards” O ctober 2013 SPA-DE, Vol.19 “Elaborately Designed Food Shops” 2013
SPACE-X Stylish Restaurants Rihan International Culture Co. 2011 SPACE-X Entertainment Center Rihan International Culture Co. 2011 SPACE-X Elaborate Commercial Space Rihan International Culture Co. 2011
55 Bars Dalian University of Technology Press Co., Ltd. 2013
Stylish Restaurants iFeng Space Media 2011
Commercial Display Hi-Design International Publishing Co., Ltd. 2012
INA: Ecological Architecture Sun Xueliang 2011
M2 Interior Design IV Sandu Publishing Co., Ltd. 2012
Rhode Island Monthly “Annual Design Awards” N ovember 2010
Wood Design & Building "Shepherd of the Valley Chapel" Spring 2012
A to Z III: Architecture Zone Vol. 5 Rihan International Culture Co. 2010
Cheers!: Wine Cellar Design Artpower International Publishing Co., Ltd. 2012
A to Z II: Architecture Zone Rihan International Culture Co. 2010
Dessert Station Artpower International Publishing Co., Ltd. 2012
Providence Business News "Architects Bestow Awards" January 22, 2010
Glamorous Restaurants Hi-Design International Publishing Co., Ltd. 2012 50 US Architects: Residential + Planning Design Book Press 2012 Dwell "New McDonald" February 2012 Design New England "Sense of Place" January / February 2012 Residential Architect "separate but equal" November / December 2011 Rhode Island Monthly “Design Awards 2011: State Champs” October 2011
SPACE-X Elaborate Commercial Space Rihan International Culture Co. 2010 SPACE-X: Stylish Restaurants Rihan International Culture Co. 2010 Installations by Architects Princeton Architectural Press 2009 Collection: US Architecture edited by Michelle Galindo Braun Publishers 2009 Rhode Island Monthly "Annual Design Awards" October 2009 Rhode Island Monthly "Best of Rhode Island" August 2009
SPA-DE, Vol.12 "Casual Hip Restaurants" 2009 SPA-DE, Vol.11 “World Spatial Design Forefront” 2009 PLUS Architecture & Interior Design Magazine “Overseas Interior: Shepherd of the Valley” May 2009 AIA Rhode Island: Premises “Annual Design Awards” April 2009 Design New England Magazine “Selections: Providence” March / April 2009 The Hartford Courant, “Addition is Space to Believe in” February 22, 2009 PLUS Architecture + Interior Design Magazine “Overseas Interior Feature” February 2009 Eat! The Best in Restaurant Design Verlagshaus Braun Publishers 2008 The Providence Journal “William Morgan: A Treasure of a New Church” November 5, 2008 Architectural Record Magazine “Record Interiors 2008” “Themes and Variations” September 2008 Boston Globe “Logan’s High-flying Food Courts” August 27, 2008 Lucky Magazine “Eat & Shop” June 2008
PUBLICATIONS
The Making of Design Principles by Kyna Leski RISD Architectural Press 2007 Providence Business News “Reinventing Industrial Landscapes” October 3-14, 2007 Restaurant Design daab 2006 Spas and Salons: The Architecture of Beauty by Julie Sinclair Eakin Rockport Publishers 2005 Housing + Single-Family Housing by Manuel Gausa and Jaime Salazar Birkhäuser Basel Publishers 2005 Journal of Architectural Education, Vol. 58 “Constructing Light” November 2004 Interior and Sources Magazine “Crowning Glory” August 2004 Architectural Lighting Magazine “First Annual DesignAwards” June / July 2004 Salon Today “Salons of the Year” 2004 Rhode Island Monthly “Annual Design Awards” October 2004 The Providence Journal “Sling, Arrows and Architecture” October 23, 2003 Architecture Boston Magazine “Declaring Victory: Practicing & Teaching” September / October 2003
The Providence Journal “A Nose-Job for the Biltmore” September 11, 2003 ACSA News, Vol. 33 “Competition Winners” September 2003 Residential Architect “Practice: Selling Your Stuff” April 2003 Nation’s Restaurant News “Let There Be Light” March 24, 2003 ViA Arquitectura 12.5 “Caja de Sol” March 2003 Architectural Record Magazine “Design Vangaurd 2002” December 2002 Boston Herald “Hot New Restaurants Nourish Body and Soul” November 1, 2002 Rhode Island Monthly “Annual Design Awards” O ctober 2002 Boston Globe Sunday Magazine “The Brash New Bath: Public Allure” O ctober 13, 2002 Slammed Magazine, Vol.1 “Design: 33” September / October 2002 Boston Magazine “The Best of Boston 2002” August 2002 Boston Flavor “33 Restaurant and Lounge” July 2002
Stuff @ Night Magazine “Hot Number” June 4-17, 2002 Dialogue 2001 Architecture Boston Magazine “Material World” Winter 2000 Modern House 2 by Clare Melhuish Phaidon Press 2000 The Japan Architect, Vol. 3 “Winners in Shinkenchiku Competition” Spring 1999 Competitions Magazine “Sun Shelter” 1997 AA Files, No. 30 “Sunworks” August 1995 Der Standard November 28, 1991 The New Yorker Magazine “Talk of the Town” June 21, 1982
FIRM HISTORY
KYNA LESKI
CHRIS BARDT, RA, AIA
3SIXØ Architecture was founded in 1997 and
Whether in her own work, or through her
A founding partner of 3six0 Architecture,
has been the recipient of numerous awards
students’ work, Kyna Leski is drawn and
Chris has practiced as a registered architect
and honors. The Rhode Island chapter of the
dedicated to navigating the creative process.
for over 23 years. He earned a Bachelor of
AIA has bestowed its top honors on 3SIXØ
Over the last twenty-one years of teaching,
Architecture from the Rhode Island School of
nine times in the past decade and The Boston
she has closely witnessed projects pursued
Design in 1983 and a Masters of Architecture
Society of Architects has recognized 3SIXØ
and developed by students at the Rhode
II from Harvard University Graduate School
with four awards. In 2002 Architectural
Island School of Design. Professor Leski is
of Design in 1988. He was a designer with
Record named 3SIXØ one of ten “vanguard”
Head of the Department of Architecture and
James Stewart Polshek and senior designer
architecture firms emerging worldwide and
author of the first semester core architecture
with Kohn Pedersen Fox from 1983 to 1986.
in 2008 Architectural Record recognized
design curriculum, given for sixteen years
He is licensed to practice in Rhode Island,
3SIXØ’s STIX Restaurant as one of its annual
and to over 1500 students. A book on this
Massachusetts, Tennessee and New York. He
pedagogy, The Making of Design Principles,
has served in a professional capacity on several
“Record Interiors.” The work of 3SIXØ has also been widely published in magazines
was published in 2007. Professor Leski served
boards including the Quonset Development
including Architectural Record; Dwell; the
as the head of the RISD European Honors
Corporation Design Review Committee.
Korean Magazine; Plus Architecture and
Program in Rome from 1993 to 1995; she
In 1995, his research on sunlight and
Interior Design; the Japanese Journal; SPA-
has taught in the Architecture, Foundation
architecture, “Sunwork,” was awarded a grant
DE; Interior Design; Design New England;
Studies and Industrial Design departments.
from the Rhode Island State Council on the
Residential Architect; Rhode Island Monthly;
The primary focus of her teaching research is
Arts and was selected for construction and
The Boston Globe; The Boston Herald;
the creative process and its workings across a
exhibition by the “Convergence Arts Festival.”
The Providence Journal and The Hartford
broad spectrum of disciplines. Currently, she
In 2007 his research on the design of masonry
Courant. Over a dozen books have featured
is writing a book called Design Intelligences,
units was published by and presented at
the work of 3SIXØ: Architecture Competition
which focuses on the design mind.
the National Concrete Masonry Association
Works; Collection: U.S. Architecture;
Kyna Leski is a principal of 3SIXØ Architecture,
conference. Chris recently co-authored
Stylish Restaurants; Salons and Spas; The
in Providence, Rhode Island. 3SIXØ’s work
research on computer modelling of structural
Architecture of Beauty; Eat! The Best of
includes a house to dwell in—in awe, a church
ribbed surfaces. The work was featured at the
Restaurant Design and Restaurant Design.
which inspires and expands, a store that
international Design Modeling Symposium
contracts itself into a restaurant bar, a salon that
Berlin this past October.
extends the life of the city inside and a porte cochère that bridges a historic past to today.
Chris’s research work has been exhibited at the Cranbrook Academy, the ETH Swiss Technical
Kyna Leski’s project, “Dream House,” placed
University, The Architectural Association in
first in The Japan Architect’s Shinkenchiku
London, The Institute of Contemporary Art, San
Residential Design Competition in 1998 and
Francisco, and the RISD Museum. Publications
was published in Modern House 2 by Claire
featuring Chris’s research include, AA Files, ViA
Melhuish (Phaidon Press, 2004). In 1997 the
arquitectura, and Installations by Architects,
Architectural League of New York selected Kyna Leski as one of five winners of its annual “Young Architects Competition.” She has also served as the “City Architect Design Decision Review Advisor” to the Mayor of Providence, the Planning Department, and the City Planning Commission and Downcity Review Commission.
Chris has been a member of the Architecture Faculty at The Rhode Island School of Design since 1988. He is a Professor of Architecture, Graduate Program Director in architecture and teaches upper level studios, Thesis, Architectural Drawing and Foundation courses. Chris has coordinated all three core design studios and Degree Project. He has been a
Kyna Leski earned a B.Arch from The Cooper
visiting Professor at Cornell University and
Union School of Architecture in 1985 and a
at the National Academy of Design and Art,
M.Arch from Harvard University’s Graduate
Slovakia.
School of Design in 1988. She is an avid rower who can be found most mornings before dawn on the Seekonk River and Narragansett Bay in Providence.
Chris is currently writing a book on materiality and creativity.
PEOPLE JACK RYAN, RA
Rachel Stopka
Jack Ryan, Senior Associate, is a licensed
Rachel Stopka has been a designer at 3SIXØ
architect with over 15 years of professional
Architecture since 2010 and has experience
architectural experience and founding member
on residential, commercial and institutional
of 3SIXØ. He has been leading projects since
projects. She received her Bachelor of
2000 and is deeply experienced in all stages
Science in Mathematics with honors from
of the design/construction process from
the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth
preliminary planning through construction
in 2007 and her Master of Architecture from
administration. His project experience ranges
Rhode Island School of Design in 2010. She is
from furniture design to institutional master
an adjunct faculty member at Roger Williams
planning.
University in the School of Architecture, Art,
Jack recently travelled to Haiti, to assist with earthquake relief efforts. He completed the design and construction of post-earthquake transitional school prototypes for Haiti, the first design to be granted approval for construction
and Historic Preservation and has worked with students from RISD and the Universidad Tecnologica Equinoccial on a design build project for an artisan community in the Manabi region of Ecuador.
from the Haitian Ministry of Education. He directly supervised a team of Haitian workers in the construction of the first six classrooms, which were published by Architectural Record. The next 72 classrooms are currently being built in Port-au-Prince. Other work includes the schematic design of a corporate research headquarters and dormitory for a sustainable paper company in ChongQing, China and the “Bench Mark” competition in Westport, MA where he was commissioned to design a public gathering space with a set of custom fabricated benches. He placed honorable mention in the NY AIA Emerging Architects International Competition in 2004, was winner of the Boston Society of Architects Projector Kiosk Competition and placed second in the YPAC Affordable housing completion sponsored by Boston Society of Architects and Habitat for Humanity. Over the last 2 years Jack has volunteered as career mentor with MET school in Providence where he works closely with students interested in the field of architecture. Jack teaches drawing and advanced studios at the Rhode Island School of Design. He earned his Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1999 and his Bachelor of Architecture in 2000 from the Rhode Island School of Design and was awarded the AIA Henry Adams Medal for design excellence.
STAFF 1997—2013 Brandon Andow Jeana Antle Nick Baldasarre Markus Berger Curtis Boivin Aaron Brode Laura Brodersen Peter Burns Brian Callahan Sean Chen Kuzina Cheng Hyungsun Choi Jae-Hyun Choi Manuel Cordero
Andrew Crocker Nicholas Croft Tim DeCoster Andrew Doyle Michal Dziedziniewicz Kelly Ennis Nazli Ergani Joshua Fiedler Whitney Forward Grace Gihm Colleen Hindarto Alice Hsieh Loren Howard Allison Johnson
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Lucia Milini Yu Morishita Chris Nanning Lilian Ng Benjamin Pearce Jack Ryan Owen Song Rory Stevens Abigail Stoner Rachel Stopka Jesen Tanadi Amy Thornton Charley Thorton Jose Vargas
Jacob Wangh Christopher White Michael Williams Robert Williams Christopher Winkler Paul Woehl Jiali Xuan Shane Zhao
PROJECTS
Cottage in Woods wild goose point residence pettaquamscutt river residence paschke danskin loft EASTSIDE ADDITION Wildflour Vegan Bakery & Juice Bar OLD STONE HOUSE RESTAURANT, SPA & INN AU BON PAIN the ACHILLES PROJECT STIX RESTAURANT & LOUNGE SHEPHERD OF THE VALLEY CHAPEL CIRCA RESTAURANT LUMIÈRE SALON 33 RESTAURANT & LOUNGE Community MusicWorks Luxottica Atlanta History Center Three Pier Bridge 2012 Yeosu Pavilion Museum of Polish History BILTMORE HOTEL PORTE COCHÈRE MLK NATIONAL MEMORIAL TKTS SUN SHELTER TURNED WOODEN BOWL H2O FURNITURE
Cottage in Woods Foster, RI
1 Existing fieldstone wall. 2 Exterior view. 3 Final model of massing. 4 Process models exploring massing. 5 North view. 6 South view. 7 Northwest view.
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The site was formerly a rural farmland, crossed with stacked field-stone walls, that has since been reclaimed by dense woods with scattered rock and ledge outcroppings. Our client, a ceramicist and artist, lives in a loft residence in a renovated manufacturing building in Providence. Although it is large, open, airy, and home to her studio, the loft lacks the outdoor space she desires for a balanced life. The design challenge of this project is tight. The exterior of the cottage, a cubic volume measuring 25’ x 25’ x 25,’ is cut like a gemologist shaping a stone. Facets are cut to shed water, or carved into a protected entry or shaped for a venting chimney. Like the rocks of the site the cottage is an understated angular block that opens up in celebration of nature. The cottage’s exterior is entirely clad in Alaska yellow cedar – a durable wood that has been left untreated and will weather to a silver-grey.
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Recessed Porch Entry Living Area Bathroom Sleeping Nook Utilities Deck
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The interior is one large cavity with its ceiling rising to the diagonal ridge at a height of 17’. The wide slidingglass opening faces south towards the garden landscape and deck. The high corner window faces east for morning light. Aligned windows at the desk and entry allow views right through the cottage. Walls and ceilings are painted vertical pine boards laid with small gap for the seasonal expansion of the wood and floors are of clear Douglas fir.
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10 Interior view of fireplace and desk.
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Alcoves of Douglas fir have been carved for an entry alcove with a bench, a desk alcove with bookshelves, a counter with open firewood storage, and a kitchen with solid butcher-block counters. Cabinets and window frames are painted with grey enamel paint to contrast with the warm coloring of the Douglas fir. A pigmented plaster wall forms the surround for the wood-burning stove.
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11 Recessed porch. 12 Entry alcove with bench. 13 Perspective sketch of kitchen. 14 Section. 15 View towards garden.
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The north side of the cottage is thick and contains a bathroom and sleeping area. The sleeping nook opens to the main living area and is just large enough for a queen-sized mattress. A pyramidal shaft connects the sleeping nook towards a skylight 14’ above, making it an observatory at night and a light filled chamber during the day.
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16 View of desk alcove and sleeping nook. 17 Perspective sketch of sleeping nook. 18 Section. 18
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From the large sliding doors, a stepping-stone sequence of Alaska yellow cedar decks and placed boulders create a series of outdoor living spaces that extend the cottage outwards. The garden and terrace areas, created by arranging large boulders that were unearthed by the excavation, are bounded on the south by an existing field stone wall and overlook a small meadow.
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Driveway Garden Shed Septic System Parking Area Bridge and Fence Dry Creek Cottage Deck Stone Terrace Meadow
20 Site plan. 21 East elevation. 22 North elevation. 23 West elevation.. 24 South elevation. 25 Exterior view of decks.
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WILD GOOSE POINT RESIDENCE NORTH KINGSTOWN, RI
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FLOOD LEVEL ELEVATION
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1 Exterior view. 2 Exterior view. 3 Section. 4 Model. 5 Area map. 6 Site plan. 8
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Plans.
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FIRST LEVEL
SECOND LEVEL
THIRD LEVEL
pettaquamscutt river RESIDENCE saunderstown, RI
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Our clients, a couple with a young boy, returned to RI after years of living in a Frank Lloyd Wright original in upstate New York. They purchased her parents’ home in Saunderstown, intent on transforming it into an open and light filled space, the opposite of the dark oak and leaded glass FLW home they had just left. The clients asked us to deeply connect their daily life with the spectacular overview of the Pettaquamscutt river and wooded surroundings of the property. The existing colonial revival house built in the ‘50s, added to numerous times, had become an aggregation of rooms, most with standard double hung windows, and had no particular relation to the site and view.
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1 Exterior view. 2 Existing conditions. 3 Existing conditions. 4 Model - southwest side. 5 Exterior detail. 4
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Some things were givens, unalterable, such as the 7’-0” ceilings, the basic footprint of the house and other fundamentals of its construction such as the roofs and exterior walls. Given those limits the former dining room, living room, kitchen and family room of the house underwent a radical spatial metamorphosis into a single large family space, connected by a “bridge” foyer to more reflective areas of library/study and in home office. New large floor to ceiling doors and windows strengthened connections to the outside and a new addition extended and reoriented the focus of the house towards the water. Several exterior decks were added to continue the connection between inside and out. Upstairs, a new master suite with adjoining bath area, large new dormer and private deck reflects the minimalist, nature focused sensibility of the owners. The bedroom has no furniture besides chair and bed; like downstairs, clutter is managed with extensive closets and cabinetry. The cabinetry is designed as a unifying anchor for the open floating floor plan. On the ground floor a long full length wall of wenge cabinetry is set flush and continuous with the glass doors of the living area. At the opposite end the cabinetry terminates as part of a authentic tatami matted, shoji screened meditation and guest room.
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Existing plan
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First level plan.
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Interior view.
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11 Steel Buddha niche detail. 12 Interior view. 13 Interior view. 14 Interior view.
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Master bath interior view.
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Master bath interior view.
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View from master deck.
On the exterior the house has transformed as well. The original house had most of its windows and doors removed in part to simplify the house form in preparation for the new additions (simple forms don’t conflict with additions). Clear stained cedar distinguishes the new additions from the painted shakes of the existing house, hinting at the very different kind of spaces of the interior.
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PASCHKE DANSKIN paschke danskin LOFT loft PROVIDENCE, RI Providence,
1 Existing conditions. 2 Existing conditions. 3 Existing conditions. 4 Axonometric sequence. 1
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An artist specializing in ceramics and light reflective installations had recently purchased a loft in Providence’s jewelry district. We were asked to convert half the loft into her live/work space; her computer engineer husband was going to remodel the other half to his liking. A meeting later the couple decided to have us design both halves, but asked us to consider each as distinct spaces, to be uniquely designed for each client. An unusual beginning to an unusual project, the “double loft� owners challenged us to acknowledge their long and committed relation, while celebrating their independence and personal predilections. Programmatically most spaces were to remain separate and duplicate; a sun room, entry and utility room were the only spaces planned with equal access. Before the loft could be made coherent it had to be divided. The trapezoidal geometry of the raw space, determined by the surrounding urban fabric, had plenty of bumps, angles and awkwardly located columns to thwart any straightforward division of the space. He had an affinity for the most difficult and dynamic condition, a long angled side skewed to the column grid, while the simplicity of the regularly columnated area appealed to her sensibilities.
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She likes light filled, airy, and serene spaces; he likes raw materials, grilling steaks and working on racing cars. From those clues we developed two architectural “characters�, cloud and stack. Cloud floats, grows down from the ceiling, has soft rounded corners and appears seamless, immaterial, white or translucent.
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Stack is very constructed; you can see the parts, the angular adjustments and the material, usually wood or mdf with steel details. We organized the two loft spaces by mingling cloud and stack into walls and storage spaces. Each character is foregrounded accordingly, stack on his side and cloud on hers, but one is never in isolation from the other. Casework and detailing continued the conversation between hers and his, cloud and stack. His casework was literally conceived as stacked volumes slowly spreading and transforming from closed cabinets to open shelves. On her side the casework continues “stack� abstractly, modified with glass doors and a more monolithic expression.
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Cloud wanders through both spaces and negotiates between the two sides. Her bedroom is a nest, gently embraced in cloud; on his side this cloud pushes through “stack�, tempering the long mdf and steel living room wall. The architectural spaces of the double loft are designed to support and represent the independent arrangements of this couple. The opposing elements (cloud and stack) provide a language for the narrative of two lives, individual, and intertwined.
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16 Interior view. 17 Interior view.
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EASTSIDE ADDITION PROVIDENCE, RI
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1 Exterior view. 2 Roof Deck. 3 Library Plan. 4 Exterior view.
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The addition is really the embodiment of a lifelong conversation a couple has had over both their shared and separate aspirations. Having finished raising a family they decided to enlarge and reorganize their current home to accommodate their new lives. He is graphic designer and passionate collector of books, she a sun-sensitive lover of plants and gardens. For years every nook and cranny of the house had been filled with their collection of books and memorabilia and now it was time to enjoy open, well-organized space.
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The inherent contradictions of the project were the crucible out of which the concept evolved: books vs. plants, storage vs. space, light vs. shade, library vs. garden, systematic organization vs. informal experience, privacy vs. engagement (of the outside). An armature was formed of deep, equally spaced fins. The depth of the fins formed a protective zone, a kind of "protective blanket" creating a deep private enclosure. The fin's depth, calibrated to accommodate a bookcase, absorbed and ordered the many conflicting programmatic needs. Book storage and file cabinets filled much of the space in the library, wardrobe and dresser, the new master bedroom. The east wall of the library became a plant conservatory, the deep fins preventing direct sunlight from falling too far into the room. The fins themselves were conceived as "infrastructure", ducting air and forming lights. Symbolically, for the couple and for the designer, the fin-based module gave a sense of measure, order and unity, a very satisfying way of understanding the space. Windows were sized and located according to the fin system, operable ones being placed on the inner, more easily reached face of the "thick blanket" and fixed ones on the outer face. Windows were also calibrated and adjusted to screen neighbors, and to frame garden views. Because of the depth of the fin wall windows could more precisely occlude the undesired views.
Upstairs in the master bedroom, in celebration of the rising sun, the eastern corner of the ceiling is lifted in a veil-like fashion allowing the corner window to rise in response. This corner has become a contemplative spot, in dialogue with the opposite western corner where its window, in contrast reaches to the floor, providing an aerie to read and overlook the old beech and pine trees. Out of view, both lower level and rooftop of the addition are integral parts of the design. In earlier years the attic of the existing house had been renovated but remained utilitarian; the new addition provides a discrete treetop deck for plants and family, affording distant views of the Rhode Island countryside. The lower, basement level was conceived as a working/living space; light filters through glass flooring above in the conservatory space, as well as from a garden window and door. The connection between addition and house is paradoxical. The addition, expressed as a distinct pavilion in terms of form and syntax, nevertheless shares a material palette with the existing house. On the interior a distinct windowed connector bridges between old and new, yet the renovation of the kitchen and dining area has blurred the seam between new and old.
WILDFLOUR VEGAN BAKERY & JUICE BAR PAWTUCKET, RI
The clients challenged us to design a specialty bakery offering all vegan baked goods and fresh juices. The setting was banal, a 70’s strip mall with a large parking lot, but the aspirations were not. The client wanted a transformative space, one that would support their mission of creating healthy food and healthy living in a healthy environment. The theme of health and natural foods led to ideas of organic growth and natural light. The deep dark space reminded us of inert ground, needing light, air, life. Long linear skylights were designed to introduce natural light over the seating areas. A softly curving ceiling was developed from the skylights, down to the café area (one young customer thought it was like a snow drift). 1
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The one unique feature of the existing space was its corner location in the shopping plaza. We replaced the front with glazing and introduced a new side entry which allowed us to develop a small patio and garden area in support of the bakery’s client’s natural lifestyle.
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1 Aerial view of site. 2 Existing conditions view. 3 Rendering. 4 Interior view. 5 Interior view.
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6 Interior view. 7 Ceiling detail. 8 Reflected ceiling plan. 9 Ceiling model. 10 Plan. 11 Interior view.
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12 Interior view. 13 Sections. 12
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OLD STONE HOUSE RESTAURANT, Inn & Spa LITTLE COMPTON, RI
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The Barn, part of Little Compton, Rhode Island’s historic Stone House Inn property, had long since ceased to shelter horses for the adjoining inn. Over the years it was converted to a banquet room with living suites above. New steel structure was added in the early eighties shifting the loads from the original deteriorating post and beam structure. Our clients requested we transform the barn into a spa center, complete with full service treatment spaces, spa hotel living suites, and a new restaurant devoted to a cuisine of locally grown organic food. The Barn, despite its lack of historical detail and structure was placed on the National Register of Historic Properties as a contributing structure, permitting us to redesign the exterior with the stipulation that
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the design be sympathetic to the spirit of the original barn. One original façade was rebuilt to match historic photos; the syntax of large sliding barn doors and small windows was further developed in the other faces of the barn. Outboard balconies from the early 80’s were removed and new inboard balconies were integrated into the new façade.
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1 Historic photograph of house & barn. 2 Historic photograph of barn. 3 Barn exterior existing conditions. 4 Barn exterior with doors open. 5 Barn exterior with doors closed. 6 Exisitng conditions. 7 Barn with approach. 7
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The old post and beam barn interior had been lost with the addition of the steel structure in the 80’s. Our design intent was to evoke the lost barn without becoming thematic. The high, lofted spaces of the past are hinted at in every suite and the restaurant. Each of the suites on both the second and third floor has a large light well over the soaking tub, and the restaurant entrance has a deep cut of space to the roof. The restaurant was conceived as a wooden shell within the old structure, its ceiling design abstractly mediating between the new shell and the old bones of the barn. Other evocations of the barn’s past are a large blowup of a historic photo of the barn serving as a semi transparent screen for the glassed off private dining area, and the reuse of some beautiful old salvage wood for bar tops and large tables.
8 Pietra interior. 9 Existing conditions. 10 Pietra entrance. 11 Pietra interior.
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Each suite fuses bathing, sleeping and sitting rooms into one continuous wall free experience. The spa and suites were developed as an ensemble and to make the whole a seamless experience, the walnut millwork and patterned color glass tile of the spa extends to the suites but with a different application and effect.
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12 Suite interior from bath. 13 Barn 3rd floor plan. 14 Suite bath interior. 15 Suite interior.
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The spa itself, located in the basement of the barn is distinguished by a long metal coil curtain lined passage; discrete breaks in the curtain mark the entry to the treatment rooms. In the suites, the coil curtain reappears as a simple divider between sleeping and sitting areas.
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16 Spa interior. 17 Spa passage interior. 18 Spa treatment room interior.
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1 Inn exterior. 2 Historic photograph of exterior. 3 Existing conditions rear. 4 Existing conditions front.
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The Stone House Inn, a historic property on Rhode Island’s eastern shore had seen better days. It’s wooden features including exterior porches, cupola and distinctive brackets had been lost to neglect and hurricanes. The original stucco overlay of the stonework had worn away and the wooden windows had long been replaced by commercial aluminum storm windows. The Stone House, originally constructed in 1854 as an Italianate private residence has a storied history, first as home to a prominent Rhode Island family and shortly thereafter, with some crude alterations, as seaside inn. During Prohibition the inn’s basement served as the local speakeasy and to this day is a beloved local destination for food and drink. Our clients purchased the Stone House and asked us to transform it and an adjoining barn into a destination boutique hotel. The property was placed on the National Register of Historic Properties, making it eligible for state historic tax credits. We worked closely with the Rhode Island Historical Preservation and Heritage Commission to meet their strict guidelines for such qualifying structures. Since the house had been transformed to inn well over 100 years ago we were asked to preserve non original historic features such as the inn’s hallway which had cut through the earlier ball room
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and living room of the home. The challenge was to develop a modern, amenity rich, suite based hotel within the historic fragments and compartmentalized order of the old inn.
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Our decision to rebuild the original Stone House porches and cupola was partially motivated by the fact that in the past they had served as very effective passive cooling devices. Our interest was to lower the energy demands of the new hotel, to make the most of the green technologies used, such as PV’s (on the porch roofs) and a geothermal heating and cooling system. The porches greatly reduce solar gain in the summer months and the cupola is a natural venting device drawing hot air up and out of the building. Modern insulation was discretely incorporated behind historic walls further lowering heat and cooling loads.
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5 Porch. 6 Window. 7 Existing ground plan. 8 Finished ground plan. 9 Dining area.
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The remaining restorative work was based on photographs, forensic investigation and the fortunate discovery of three original brackets in an adjoining shed. Two more recent additions to the Stone House were also renovated albeit in a different manner. The historians asked us to preserve an addition that had been built in the old porte cochere, but allowed a newer, poorly constructed one story addition to be demolished and rebuilt on the same footprint. The new addition, a separate ADA compliant suite, was designed as a quiet, ivy covered, stucco and wood clad block, with discrete openings for light and view. The photographs show the newly completed block 10
without its ivy.
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Each of the 9 suites are bespoke in layout and character. Finishes and furnishings were selected balancing the contemporary spirit of the new hotel
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with the inherent character of each suite. To maintain a sense of unity we developed a palette abstracted from the natural context of the Stone House. Sand, hay, oyster shell, fog, lichen, bleached bones are all sources for the finishes and colors. Completing the dĂŠcor, a well known quilt designer worked closely with us to develop unique quilts for each suite.
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10 Inn exterior with new addition at rear. 11 Exterior of new addition. 12 Interior of suite bath. 13 Interior of new addition suite. 14 Interior of new addition suite.
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AU BON PAIN BOSTON, MA
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1 Au Bon Pain with context. 2 Interior view. 3 Plan. 4 View of ABP on approach. 5 3D view.
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Together with Los Angeles based design firm, A3LA, we were contracted to design two Au Bon Pain stores in Logan Airport- - -one larger store in the Main Hall and a smaller store past security in the departure area of the terminal. The challenge of this project is the integration of three independent demands into a coherent design: the demands of the signage, the client group demands and the material/ structural demands. The client for both stores consists of Au Bon Pain, Inc, the user; Westfield, the developer; and MassPort, the Administrator of Logan. Au Bon Pain was primarily concerned with maintaining brand equity and operational functionality, Westfield was concerned with a level of design consistency from all tenants and MassPort was concerned with complex systems of safety, security and operation. We analyzed Au Bon Pain’s marketing and branding, embraced the philosophy behind it and reinterpreted the given material and tectonic palette. The concept of “real food” established a transformation of given materials to “real materials”—matter instead of surface. Signage is literally fused with an open structural canopy which defines and is defined by the given parcels of space. The canopy splits to define the internal programmatic parts—splitting the dining from the food preparation/purchase area, directing the flow of the customer and operator. The branding symbol of the sunflower, conveying “fresh,” “bright,” and “life” served as the inspiration of the design. The canopy projects a pattern onto the opposing surfaces of the space—as it would cast its shadow from the sun. This has the effect of making Au Bon Pain a sunny spot within an otherwise gray terminal.
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6 Au Bon Pain Terminal C plan. 7 Interior view. 8 Au Bon Pain Terminal C. 6
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ACHILLES PROJECT BOSTON, MA
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1 Retail hours with cases open. 2 After hours with cases aside. 3 Plan during retail hours. 4 Plan during restaurant hours. 5 View to retail space from bar & lounge.
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The clients approached us with an outside of the box concept: a store / restaurant / bar / gallery for a former warehouse space in Boston’s Fort Point Channel District. This unconventional problem demanded an innovative solution: instead of compartmentalizing the different programs in the deep but narrow space, we developed a design which allowed the different activities to overlap. Inspired by the strength of the concrete and steel industrial shell, we designed a system of 28 glass and steel merchandise cases riding on steel rails mounted to the ceiling. The cases roll open during the retail hours and agglomerate into clustered vaults at night; transforming the retail space into the extension of the bar/lounge beyond.
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8 Shoe display and cash wrap. 9 Bar and lounge. 10 Sliding dining tables.
The chef wanted flexibly sized tables, for the 9
small, medium, large and extra large dishes of his menu. Groupings of 2-tops was an obvious solution, but the uneven existing floor caused uneven joints between the tables. We developed a rail system that supports the tabletops and allows them to slide and group.
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STIX RESTAURANT & LOUNGE BOSTON, MA
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There were two main generative challenges inherent in the program for a new restaurant, including a bar and dining for 90 people on the ground floor and a bar and lounge for 60 people on the lower lever. One was to create a sense of communal dining while maintaining a more private table configuration. The other was the need for two modes of operation; sit-down dining and standing cocktail party space, inspired by the food on a stick concept for the restaurant. Given the lack of table storage, the design had to address these ambitions directly.
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1 Plan. 2 Interior view. 3 Tables up. 4 Tables down.
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5 Bar. 6 Detail. 7 Sequence showing table movement. 8 Detail of wood coil.
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The solution to these challenges was to create a continuous coil through the space. On its way, the band folds up, out and over as wall panel, table, floor ceiling and bar. The experience is continuous from front to back, bar to restaurant and table to table. That continuity is interrupted when the mode changes from sit-down dining to standing room only. Tables fold up into the wall, clearing the floor and enabling the space to transform into a cocktail party space. The bourbon toned quarter sawn oak, raw steel and cork present a simple unplugged elegance that is taut like a barrel.
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SHEPHERD OF THE VALLEY CHAPEL HOPE, RI
“Smell the newness, smell the wood, smell the aliveness of this place… To begin, I just want to invite you to open your imaginations today… When we built this, we were not absolutely certain how it would be used because we are a church and we don’t determine the use of our lives and the use of our materials and the use of our abilities. We leave that to God. I just heard this little one here stepping, and I can imagine dancing in this place. I can imagine candle-light services in this place. I can imagine lively conversations of the church council in this place. I can imagine the youth praying in this place, praying through their bodies. I can imagine all kinds of things, and I want you to be part of that imagining with me. Live into this space as the launching pad formation.”
–Reverend Starbuck, at the Chapel’s consecration, October 16, 2008
1 Shepherd of the Valley Chapel. 2 Barn interior. 3 Medieval basilica. 4 Existing church in Hope, RI
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5 South elevation. 6 East educational wing elevation. 7 South sanctuary end wall model. 8 East elevation model.
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Shepherd of the Valley, a United Methodist Church in Hope, Rhode Island, hired us initially to prepare an assessment and feasibility study for their needs to expand. The church had grown and the existing building was no longer seen as being adequate in meeting the needs of worship, ministry, education and other activities. There was also an overall need for maintenance repair. Stan Mar buildings constructed the existing building in 1970, using pre-fabricated, vinyl-sided wood construction. We identified a formal origin for the current shape of the existing church as having a Basilican Plan, an external form with a deep gable and internally with a central nave and aisles—a formal type that goes back two millennia as the form 5
for both churches and barns. Our study revealed pressing needs for a new education wing, restructured sanctuary end wall, reorganized entry and an overall renovation of the existing building’s exterior. All of these changes would, at the same time, seek to make the church breathe, in the sense that there should be greater visibility and connection between spaces, between inside and outside and material choices could be made for the renovated exterior that literally breathe more than the current vinyl siding. The material and tectonic integrity of a barn, which was a kind of model for the shape of the existing church and part of the context for its rural setting, served as a renewed inspiration for future work.
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After preparing schematic designs for a staged approach that addressed the overall needs, the church’s Building Visions committee decided on a fundraising campaign targeting an initial stage of expansion for the design of a multi-purpose pavilion. This pavilion, located as an extension of the existing education wing, could also serve as a new freestanding children’s chapel. Instead of applying the funds of the campaign across all of the areas that needed additional space and maintenance, the Building Visions committee wanted to concentrate the funding, energy and effort on a small project that could serve as an inspiration for the future stages of development.
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Plan looking down at “keel” of floor.
10 Plan looking up at ridge of ceiling. 11 Spiral diagram. 12 Interior view.
The order for the design of a chapel started with the plan and its perimeter walls. These walls, at the south end of the chapel, start as a continuation of the existing walls of the education wing. The west wall however, angles inward, in order to maintain an open outdoor space that could serve for gathering. Because the east and west walls are not parallel and because the ceiling’s geometry on each side of the ridge beam is square to the east and west walls respectively, the lines of the geometry continue to spiral around from wall to ceiling to wall to floor, like a string wrapping the space. The lines of the spiral slowly contract as the geometry moves northward approaching the geometrical infinite limit. “Spiral” comes from the Latin, “spirare” or spirit…a figure that is always expanding and contracting like breath and the related words, “respire,” “inspire,” “expire” and for the chapel, “spire.”
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The spiraling geometric order of the chapel is suggested on the exterior of the chapel at the window openings in that the widths of the windows become narrower as they approach the north end of the building. The chapel is clad in a taut skin of tongue and groove vertical grain western red cedar with the east and west walls canting outward, allowing rain water to fall freely past the building. The jambs of the windows are bracketed by sapele mahogany ribs that hold a true plumb line against the canting wall surface. Critical junctures of the building are articulated with zinc coated copper that extend upward to create rain water diverters, parapet cap flashing, downspouts and transition pieces between canted and plumb walls.
Entry to the pavilion is made at the point where the geometric spatial order pulls away from the existing education wing and forms a hinged gap between the new and the old buildings. The recessed light troughs, the pattern of the slate flooring and the walls follow the lines of the geometric order. At some points the walls are short of reaching the ceiling, and at others, falls short of the floor. The foyer doubles back on itself leading to the entry of the chapel space.
Upon entry to the chapel space, the geometric order makes itself fully apparent by means of a continuous line of sapele that wraps through the space. The line begins as a sapele inlay within the tongue and groove red oak flooring. As the flooring meets the wall at an angle, it turns to become a deep rib that is perpendicular to the wall and extends upward. These are the same wood ribs that were visible on the exterior of the building at either side of the windows. The rib continues across the roof, reorients itself at ridge line, continues down the other wall and across the floor until it is reoriented once again at the “keel,� or the central axis of the floor of the chapel. The red oak ceiling pulls inward against the roof ribs while the infill of the walls pushes outward. The south edge of the ceiling is level and flat at nine feet high and progressively pushes upward as the spiral contracts towards the north reaching a height of eighteen feet. The geometry never closes, but approaches an infinite limit at the north end of the chapel where the roof leaves a gap at a skylight that rakes the north wall with light.
CIRCA RESTAURANT MEMPHIS, TN
1 View of dining area. 2 Screens / wine racks. 3 Detail of screens.
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The screens frequently seen on building facades in Memphis served as the inspiration for this restaurant design. While these façade screens function to soften the strong sunlight, we employed layers of screens to address the client’s need for “the mayor to have lunch without anyone noticing” while preserving the open face running along a longitudinal side.
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Presented with a very long and narrow restaurant space, we created a layered space defined by screens for areas of dining and bar/reception while maintaining an overall sense of openness. Three different screens were designed to address different programmatic needs. The screens’ patterning morphs to accommodate their function as a wine wall, light wall or curtain. The layered screens of aluminum squiggles and cherry veneer panels separate the dining areas from the restaurant’s main circulation. The screens double as a wine wall which allows the chef to display his full collection of wines. The rear cherry paneled wall is a graphic interpretation of layers of screens collapsed into a two dimensional surface. This paneled wall is backlit from behind and provides a large portion of the dining area and bar lighting. Finally, the pattern is used to cut etched finish film and applied to the 125’ long glass storefront facing the pedestrian arcade creating different degrees of privacy. All screens were digitally cut from the architect’s file and fabricated offsite.
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4 Longitudinal section. 5 Patterned light wall at bar end. 6 Patterned light wall in dining area. 7 Plan.
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As one passes in between layers of screens or alongside the glazed long side, a moirĂŠ pattern, an optical illusion that is formed from layers viewed while moving, appears. In this case, the compound pattern of the layers of screens looks literally like flowing water. It was a nice confirmation....because one of the most hauntingly powerful presences in Memphis is the Mississippi River.
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8 Bar. 9 View of Circa.
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LUMIÈRE SALON PROVIDENCE, RI
1 Exterior daytime elevation. 2 Window reflection detail. 3 Plan. 3 Catwalk.
Lumière salon began with a corner storefront space in downcity, providence. The salon required several programmed areas with key functional concerns including privacy, lighting and spatial continuity. The clients wanted a distinctive image and requested that a crown be part of the image for their new salon. As one of the co-owners said, “hair is your crowning glory.” We took the generous scale, openness and residual character as challenges and opportunities. Retaining the qualities of the existing open space, its seventeen foot high ceiling, and two full elevations of glass storefront, conflicted with the need for areas of varying degrees of privacy. A strategy was developed to transform the perimeter of the space into a semi-permeable screen and to develop a layered spatial organization similar to a forest…the further you penetrate the space, the greater degree of privacy you experience.
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8,000 copper rods hang from ceiling to floor, lining the interior of the glass storefront, forming a luminous scrim. This scrim creates a distinctive image for the salon from the exterior while acting as a delicate screen between the public street-scape and private layered space within. During the day, while the salon is open for business and the light is stronger outside, one can see more easily from inside to the outside than from the outside in; affording a certain degree of privacy for the clients. At night, while the salon in not in use, the copper screen is essentially transparent, allowing one to see through the depth of the space. From a distant vantage point, the copper screen glows like a fire or a luminous corona.
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5 Exterior nighttime detail. 6 Exterior nighttime elevation. 7 Exterior nighttime perspective.
This "crown" continues along the space's interior perimeter, as lines of light glowing through a full height seventy foot long mirror wall. The effect is achieved by backlighting and removing the mirror's silvering in an arrangement of thin vertical stripes. On the back wall, light emanates through the folds of fabric that shape the manicure and pedicure alcoves. Fabric was selected for its ability to both create a softened enclosure and to baffle sound. The spatial organization was developed to functionally orchestrate the sequence for the stylist and client and to create a layered space of carefully placed elements that screen, transmit or reflect light and view. Glass and cherry-wood shelving display products, define the reception and waiting area, and create a translucent screen between the clients at the styling stations and visitors who are just arriving. Double-sided mirrored styling stations, (also designed by us), are arranged diagonally across the plan, and “grain” the space. A free standing cherry wood “wedge” holds the bathroom, changing room, storage, and barista while also defining the more private area for hair washing. Collectively, all the space defining elements increase the perceptual depth between inside and outside and thereby increase the graduation between public and private. The layered space and mirrored wall and stations establish discreet views and a kind of anonymous intimacy that is very urbane. Life on the street is included in the experience of the salon and the salon ritual is part of the life of the city. In this way, Lumière salon revitalizes by including the city as part of its architecture. The general contractor was Case Construction.
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33 RESTAURANT & BAR BOSTON, MA
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In November 2001, we began the design of a restaurant and lounge for a younger sophisticated crowd, good Italian and French food and the latest music for two floors of 33 Stanhope Street in Boston. We were asked to develop the restaurant & lounge’s image through the architecture—not through a theme—but with a distinctive design that would give an identity or brand. In keeping with the logo of double “3’s” back to back, we developed a concept of reflection—in form through reflective geometry and with light—to govern our design. The result is a spatial experience created from light, reflective form and glowing, absorptive materials. The spatial layout consists of a centrally located stair connecting the restaurant on the ground level to the lounge, bathrooms and kitchen located on the lower level. The undulating stair walls continue through the space in both plan and section, (front to back and from the ground floor through to the lower level), becoming the walls of the bars on both levels. These LED lit walls act as a singular sculptural element that transforms as one moves through, and links the different parts of the whole. The details, including the design of light emitting walls, a slatted wood ceiling, stacked acrylic window screens and selectively translucent walls between the men’s and women’s rooms were developed to act as the catalyst in igniting the lighting and ambiance of the space. The restaurant opened on budget and on schedule in May 2002.
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1 View of bar and lower level. 2 Diagram of 33 ceiling. 3 View of ceiling from stairs.
4 Plan and section. 5 View of 33.
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6 Lounge.
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7 Lower bar and lounge. 8 Lower bar and lounge.
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Restroom
10 Sink detail. 11 Fabrication of bar. 12 Finished bar.
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NEW BAR FOR 33 BOSTON, MA
This all steel bar replaced the original lounge bar as part of a renovation to 33 Lounge. It was conceived as a set of stacked, folded linear strips. Fabrication and installation took less than 2 11
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weeks. The cavities and shelves created by the offset folds hold liquor and house LED lighting.
Community MusicWorks Providence, RI
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A fugue in music involves multiple intertwined voices moving towards and away from each other, which seems an apt way to describe our approach to the design of a new headquarters for Community MusicWorks. Nationally celebrated, (CMW) is centered on building connections with and between members of the community, and offering a cohesive educational and performance experience for residents of the Providence area, especially underserved families and neighborhoods. CMW programming-needs are paradoxical. On the one hand CMW sees itself as the source, base, force for underserved members of the community: drawing students, their families, and audiences of the performing quartets to come together around a community of music. On the other hand, CMW has a tradition of dispersal: itinerant teaching, learning and performing, characterized by going to where it’s most needed. The ethos of consolidation and dispersal is a key part of CMW’s strong neighborhood connections and is regarded as essential to CMW’s future.
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The spatial organization of this design gathers, intertwines, consolidates and disperses the many voices of CMW. The centrifugal motion sends the organization out into the community and the centripetal motion gathers the underserved community of students, neighborhood families and music lovers in. The open section of this whirlpool of circulation surrounding the concert hall core is ripe for impromptu performance. Ramps and generous landings spatially intersect the semi-public restaurant and lounge on the ground level, the foyer of the concert hall and the individual practice pods, classrooms and media lab above. There’s a potential for all kinds of performance, from the carefully choreographed and acoustically controlled hall, to the collective performance emanating from the musicians’ personal spaces to the haphazard encounters of the spaces in between. The adaptability of CMW to the many spaces that the community so far has offered (churches, community centers, classrooms, gymnasiums) is in their DNA. It has fed their vitality, creativity, exposure and inclusion of the people they serve. This design is made from this idea of varied creative performing and inclusion.
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The concert hall is conceived of as an uncompromised space, one which honors music and musicianship of all performers including students. The slightly canted wood clad sides of the performance hall set it apart, a space breathing in and out simultaneously. These canted elements extend past the hall becoming the organizing geometry of the building, architecturally expressed as pin wheeling structural walls.
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Ground level plan.
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Upper level plan.
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Transverse section perspective.
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Longituninal section perspective.
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Interior rendering of concert hall.
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Sebastian Ruth, the founder of Community MusicWorks (CMW) envisioned the concert space of the new CMW as “a hall that’s dark and needs to be filled with music,” a void that elevates the expectations of the students and community through formal performance. The proposed design moves towards and away from the force of this central void, towards and always from formality and improvisational spirit.
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Entry Community Café Concert Foyer Concert Hall Classrooms Administration Green Room Circulation Concert Balcony Lounge / Classroom Media Lab / Recording Studio Library Classrooms Lounge Practice Carrols
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On the ground floor, a large community café space fronts the commercial street side, encouraging the life of the street and neighborhood connections. The café space is a mixer, where parents, students, performers, audiences, and neighbors can make themselves at home and on special occasions hold community dinners, something of a tradition at CMW. The concert hall floats between floors and above the ground, a catalyst for a large encircling landscape ramp system and strong spatial connections between the ground and second level. The foyer of the concert hall is integral to the ramp system, which itself is conceived as a social catalyst encouraging movement, interaction and spontaneous activity between levels, students, audiences and performers. The ramp system and surrounding informal spaces include open lounges and “hangout” space outside of classrooms and practice rooms, to foster the essential connections and community building that CMW is founded on. The circulatory system and informal spaces mediate between the alignment of the concert hall and the street edges, which order the classrooms and support spaces. Gaps between geometries become void spaces, and skylights, allowing for light and view. While transparency is an appropriate goal for how CMW wants to be seen in the neighborhood, this needs to be balanced with the more privacy oriented (opaque) residential context. The envelope of the new building has its degree of transparency calibrated using a commercial FRP panel system. The unit sizes are small 1’x2’ allowing the façade and its transparency/translucency to be programmed as a kind of animated field revealing the activity of music inside. The rear of the building, bordering a residential area, is made of CMU and a vertical green planted wall supported by a 1’x2’ stainless steel wire mesh. This wall wraps around part of the side of the building, as a backdrop to a new vest-pocket performance/sitting park, a connective amenity for the neighborhood and CMW. The main entry to CMW is direct and sheltered, an inviting proscenium threshold for audiences on their way to a performance, students going to classes or practice, teachers, musicians, parents and friends; a single entry for all, an invitation to enter, ascend watch, listen and perform, to cohere and build connections with and between the community.
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Urban geometry diagram.
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Site plan.
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Interior rendering of entry, cafe and circulation.
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luxottica sun shop at bloomingdale's
Mirror
Low Style Wall
Style Ledge
Mirror
Pylon
Pylon
Mid-height Style Wall
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P.O.S. Mirror
Mass Style Wall
Pylon
Media Pedestal
Style Ledge
Style Bar
Mass Style Wall Pylon
Mirror
Mirror Engagement Pedestal
Pylon
Mass Style Wall
Mirror Pylon
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Mirror
Mid-height Style Wall
Low Style Wall
Pylon
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The pleasures of window shopping come from the permission given to look and take in an object of desire without commitment to it. The space of the window shopper is discreet, allowing sideways glances and reflected views of others and self and an unhurried gaze. The store concept builds on this transient phenomenon, inviting the shopper to continue seamlessly into the shop, as one might pass along a street or urban market. The fixtures are conceived as elements which choreograph continuously evolving movement: branching, converging, slipping, pausing, never locked or fixed or intimidating. Thresholds become fluid, multiple; crossing them is unselfconscious. The fixtures hinge creating corners, inside pockets of space, places of punctuation and equilibrium; slowing movement and focusing attention on the beautiful objects moving in and out of view.
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The larger gesture of the shop is open and non-hierarchical, welcoming from all directions, all shoppers, including the determined, the wandering, and the impulsive. Immediately upon entering, an organizational structure can be intuited by clues and cues. All fixtures form continuous spaces which meet at the style bar, the anchor of the shopping experience. By providing the highest level of service and expertise, the style bar sets the tone for the shopper befitting the Bloomingdales experience. The programming of the shop is intended to be seamless; for example the fixtures morph from display to style bar, punctuated by a constellation of lighting overhead, and the cash wrap is conceived as an extension of a fixture. Wayfinding is foregrounded by entry podiums and branding pylons at the ends of each fixture. The curious shopper quickly finds their style, identifying with the pylons and selecting from a range of vignettes in each of the cupped spaces formed by the hinged geometry. The store is intended to be experienced as a total spatial condition. The ceiling is conceived to cohere space, to dissolve figure/ground distinction, so that fixtures are not perceived only as objects in space, but are instead experienced as part of a coherent spatial phenomenon. The ceiling reflects the floor plan, expressing the fixtures as slotted voids. With simple folds the ceiling gently undulates the space of the store. At the edges the folds realign to meet and rejoin the continuum of the larger space of Bloomingdales. 5
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Floor plan.
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Choreography diagram.
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Visual engagement diagram.
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Hingeing space diagram.
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Exterior rendering.
A precise curatorial atmosphere pervades the shop, as limited pairs of glasses are offered for display and closer examination. A further slowing and pause sharpens focus and invites storytelling. What are these about? Are they for me? Am I for them? Behind glass, and beyond playful surfaces, more eyewear beckons; intrigue is suggested around each corner. Window shopping continues but now out is in and the shoppers find themselves picking up a pair of glasses that had casually caught their eye. 6
SIDE A STORY TELLING PYLON TRANSPARENT L.C.D. SCREEN
SIDE B WOOD DISPLAY SHELF GLASS
CARVED BACKLIT RESIN BAR BACKLIT RESIN BASE MIRROR
SIDE B
PUNCTUATION SLOT
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POLISHED STAINLESS STEEL
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Display details.
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Detail section.
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Interaction diagram.
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Display unit elements.
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WOOD CROSS SECTION
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The shop is designed to weave experiences, to go beyond a static subject/object state. Associates are participants and guides; shelves literally weave product and space. Even the style bar allows a connection between sides, not insistently but invitingly. Space and floor area are thought of as woven and overlapped, so each customer is always experiencing multiple lapped transparent spatial experiences, deepening the intrigue and sophistication of the store.
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10 Interior rendering 11 Woven space diagram.
I always play the wandering game when I enter a new space, noticing the heavy hand or its absence, and here I’m guided in a way that lets me focus on the matter of choosing the right pair of shades. It’s clear that I’m not in an ordinary space. My eyes take in the details of display, the lighting, how floor and ceiling seem to talk with each other. I allow myself the fantasy, walking by the entry marker, that this podium is a city version of a favorite old stone pillar leading into a private beach, and I read its surface as a kind of sundial. As I drift between these shelves I have the sense of being in a gallery that not only allows but encourages me to touch, to select, to take home the artwork. I like this gesture of almost unseen people reaching out across from where I’m looking. The charm of this display is self-evident, helped along by the presence of others. A friendly face appears to offer assistance. Often, in other boutiques, I quickly refuse and continue browsing on my own, but the array of choices here is rich and I welcome the idea of being aided in my attempt. In addition to the various models shown, there is also the virtual window-shop of the screen, where I can see not only a generous set of possibilities but how to customize them to my specifications. The style bar provides everything except a drink, which I will reward myself with, once the mirror approves my research. I’ve always enjoyed the oblique (a poet I know wrote “What’s more blatant than subtlety?”), how one or a few people can be seated near each other (think restaurant tables) and enact the opposite of what’s printed on car mirrors: “Objects are closer than they appear.” Here, privacy in public is respected, which both protects and permits acknowledgement, conversation, flirtation. It’s comfortable to sit awhile amidst such surroundings while choosing something of value which will very quickly become part of who I am. My first impression of this store remains, gathers force. A memory that persists, keeping me company as I move around. Whether I was a bit tired or just overloaded with images, I feel somehow refreshed by this mix of shadow and transparency. Wood and glass and metal are so present in their rich simplicity that I conjure some faraway farmer’s market and am once again instructed by the convincing power of beautiful objects and their role in adding spice to a life. Design sings out as an underlying aspect of décor. This solid wood bench as a surface for my shoulderbag is one more instance of a thing in its right spot, a burden lifted. Once several pairs of glasses have been narrowed finally to one, I take them to the counter in a shopper’s haze comprised of equal parts relief, gratitude and anticipation. This whole business has been a pleasure, too tame of an experience to be called an adventure, but there has been a carefree wandering shaped by both celestial and terrestrial navigation. The stars have certainly aligned, and after seeing my new glasses carefully tended to, the lovely case that shelters them is one more nice surprise.
ATLANTA HISTORY CENTER Atlanta, GA
1 Aerial View.
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2 Interior perspective. 3 Sections. 4 Interior perspective. 5 Interior perspective.
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The Atlanta History Center has an inherent responsibility to preserve and re-present Atlanta’s past, while anticipating the unknowable events and artifacts of the future. Atlanta is a work in progress, a relatively young city in the midst of forming itself. So it is with the current AHC: an amalgam of relatively new parts, also a “work in progress”. We propose to reorganize the current plan, develop a new entry, and add new exhibition space on the north side. The intent of our project is to spatially unify the museum, anticipate future needs, and to strengthen its identity as a key civic institution of Atlanta. Three new unifying architectural elements are proposed to transform the existing AHC: A monumental roof and undulating ceiling amalgamates the disparate interior spaces; a long transparent façade presents a new civic image of the museum; and a new addition fills in the western corner, “completing” and consolidating the various existing parts of the museum. The roof is conceived as a city scaled, welcoming gesture, its broad overhang providing shade and shelter to the arriving visitor and blurring the boundary between inside and outside. The gently suspended, undulating underside forms a continuous sequence of fluid spaces from entry to overlook, choreographing the visitor’s movement through the museum. It floats above the existing roofs, allowing new light to enter through transoms and edge skylights.
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three pier bridge providence, ri
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1 Site plan, elevation and section. 2 Perspective. 3 Perspective. 4 Perspective. 5 Section through pier.
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Studio Providence LLC, a collaboration between 3sixĂ˜ Architecture and Friedrich St.Florian Architects, designed a new pedestrian bridge using the existing foundations of the former Interstate 195 Bridge spanning the Providence River. Setting A heroically uncovered river and relocated highway in a historic city filled with promise.
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Problem/Opportunity Existing structural piers; two parks separated by a river; a culturally rich but economically challenged city. Inspiration The iconic New England fishing pier: a place you want to go to, a way of getting there and a way of going somewhere else.
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2012 YEOSU PAVILION Yeosu, korea
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Um-Yang: The movement of dark and cold and bright and hot. The upper Sun Pavilion canopy bathes visitors in an ebb and flow of shadows, and momentarily eclipses the 2
sun each day at solar noon. The lower Moon Pavilion is a double walled thermos that holds a reservoir of cooling water, replenished by tidal action twice daily. Yeosu’s relation to the sea is framed by its harbor, developed over time as a place of work, commerce and shipping activity. The breakwaters are potentially significant features mediating between the open water and inner harbor. With the development of the exposition, the general public will have a new opportunity to directly engage the waterfront. The pavilion is situated to take advantage of the new urban axis created by the other exposition buildings; looking to the sea from Yeosu the axis terminates at the public room of the new pavilion. As visitors walk along the axis they are presented with the farming of the sea and an oblique view of the glazed “sun“ pavilion on the deck. This view axis connects the new pavilion to the remainder of the exposition and city.
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WAVE CANOPY 6
CANOPY FRAMEWORK
STRUT & COLUMNS
GLASS SUN PAVILION
DECK
MOON PAVILION 4
1 Cut surface models. 2 Site study. 3 Aerial view. 4 Diagram. 5 Sections and elevation. 6 Perspective from deck.
MUSEUM OF POLISH HISTORY wARSAW, POLAND
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Paths Between Place & Memory: In this proposal, a gathering of paths links place with memory: paths that stitch ul. Jazdów to O Stanisławowska; paths that straddle Trasa Łazienkowska; paths that lead one up and along the Skarpa Warszawska; paths from pl. na Rozdrou and paths relinking Zamek Ujazdowski with Sobieski gardens. All the paths gather to form the architecture of the museum. The architecture is shaped by the lines of movement between ul. Jazdów and the Stanisławowska Axis. These lines place the primary internal circulation of the museum. One arrives at the museum’s entry through paths that bend and slide below a bar building, located on ul. Jazdów. One is drawn into the forum, an open public atrium which runs west to east at the base of a network of shallow stairs. These circulatory elements are the major ordering elements of the building. The forum and stairs place and shape the exhibition spaces, and locate the supporting functions—auditorium, seminar rooms, multimedia library, reading room, museum store and café. The shallow stairs cut sections through history and bring the visitor to the galleries above. A “comprehensive path” links the galleries back and forth across the forum atrium in a continuous loop that begins and ends at the ul. Jazdów entry. Recognizing the variability of memory, a “fast path” intersects the chronological ordering and provides access for a specific course of study or an informal visit. The galleries stitch together across the building and give multiple views and courtyard spaces to connect back to the site. The forum culminates in a panoramic view eastward, towards the Wisła River.
GROUND LEVEL ENTRY DIAGRAM
GALLERY ACCESS DIAGRAM
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“COMPREHENSIVE PATH”
“FAST PATH”
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6 1 Study model and diagrams. 2 Elevation. 3 Site plan. 4 Perspective. 5 Interior perspective. 6 Section. 7 Model.
BILTMORE HOTEL PORTE COCHÈRE PROVIDENCE, RI
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This is a design for a new porte cochère for a historic hotel in Downcity Providence. Our design is a response to some very basic needs, to provide shelter for visitors arriving to the Hotel, the need to mark the entry to the hotel and a spiritual need to mark a time and place in the continuum of life in our city. For us the last need became the most difficult and important. The project was initiated by the owners of the Hotel at a time when there hadn’t been significant new construction for decades. Providence has a number of beautiful historic buildings and for us the problem of inserting a relatively small but significantly placed structure was akin to saying the first words that initiate a conversation about where and when we are. Our design became the subject of discussion about architecture and history for the inhabitants of Providence. This played itself out in newspaper editorial and letters to the editor in addition to design review meetings open to the public. Although the hotel owners have since filed the project for some future date, and the existing make shift awning still sits in a state of disrepair, our little project did serve perhaps as some kind of sacrificial lamb for architecture to move on…or continue…at least out of the nineteenth century. (Since this time the GTECH Headquarters, Moneo’s design for the RISD Chace Center and Kennedy & Violich’s renovation of RISD’s CIT Building have been completed.) The vehicle for developing the structure came from the net-like detailing of the hotel’s lobby ceiling. Material studies were done coaxing the geometry of the net-like matrix into canopy and structure. The parameters announced themselves: the canopy needed to be high enough to allow a chartered bus to pass, without being too high that it becomes ineffective as shelter; its load needed to be brought to the curbside and its canopy extend to the medium strip. The existing architectural elements of doubled columns, the band that encircles the building one story up and the Adamesque window were historic cues that we were attentive to. The existing columns signaled where the load of our structure would be carried to the ground and the horizontal band located anchoring for the significant uplift that the structure would be subjected to. The projective elevation of our design offered a confirmation of our strategy: the projective view of the undulating canopy form geometry similar to the Adamesque fan window.
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1 Lobby ceiling. 2 View of Biltmore entry at present. 3 Historic image of the Biltmore Hotel. 4 Final model. 5 Plan. 6 Section. 7 Final Model.
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This undulating net-like structure served practical purposes as well: its curvature channels rainwater to downspouts located in the columns, and the triangulated undulating surface is structural and resistant to uplift deflection. These practical purposes were the original logic of using this geometry. In a way the material reasoning that was employed in our design process produced a design that is contemporaneous with other design work that we were engaged in; and yet in this case, the design reverberated with the historic architecture of our city. It was as if we found the geometric equivalent of an etymological root for the historic detailing in the net-like structure; and thus acted as a kind of temporal bridge from that time—the time when Providence was great and thriving—the time that created the built environment that its people love—and today. 5
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MLK NATIONAL MEMORIAL WASHINGTON D.C.
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Paths from all directions take one through a “foundation of great building”. Dr. King’s message is carved sequentially into the vertical faces of the foundation stones and leads the visitor into the memorial and up a ground swell. As one ascends, one “surfaces” through the tops of the stones along with others from other paths. From this level, the stones present a continuous surface of water that reflects the sky: an event horizon of sight and sound. A statue of King arriving stands at the summit.
1 Site plan, elevations and section. 2 Aerial view. 3 Perspective inside MLK memorial.
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TKTS NEW YORK, NY
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Competition entry for a new ticket booth and urban park, Times Square, New York. A proposal for an urban resonator that emits what it receives. A kaleidoscopic absorber. A mass of hedges is cut by scissored paths, stitching Broadway to 4
the city grid. The hedges are trimmed at an angle for sun exposure. An anechoic maze for queuing is formed. Forty-six origamied steel planters carry the hedges. The hedges are armored-grown through chain-link cages. Gates, placed between planters are left open or are closed to regulate the length and movement of the ticket buyers line. As one moves North through the paths, the density of the hedge mass grows until it forms the “walls� of an outdoor room for the existing statue of Father Duffy.
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1 Model with context. 2 Plan. 3 Model. 4 TKTS booth details. 5 Statue and TKTS booth. 6 TKTS booth. 7 Section through TKTS.
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The ticket (tkts) booth, a pleated steel building is the destination of the maze. The booth is turned in towards the south, so that the eleven ticket windows face the interior of Father Duffy square and act as the fourth wall of the ‘outdoor room’. The pleats soften on the 47th Street facade, to form a steel curtain that is lifted, slightly in anticipation, and glowing at night. Signage listing the evening’s schedule of performances flank the East and West faces of the booth. The perforated steel crown radiates the tkts logo. The geometries for all the components of the ticket booth shell, the steel planters and gates are developed—rolled and folded from flat patterns. A 29’ high by 2’ diameter resonating cone, placed at the Northwest corner of the site, pivots to the height of a visitors ear. “Meet you at the cone”.
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SUN SHELTER NEW YORK, NY
1 Sun shelter. 2 Perspective rendering. 3 Canopy detail. 4 Canopy surface. 5 Detail. 6 Aerial view of canopy and shadow.
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7 Aerial view of entire proposal. 8 Perspective beneath canopy. 9 Aerial view of canopy.
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A competition entry for the design of a sun shelter sponsored by the New York Chapter of the AIA and the Van Alen Institute. Third prize. Our design covers the 800’x100’ pier with a permeable structure. The roof is structured with 8’x16’ plate steel modules that are variably bent and expanded depending on the degree of shading required. The ends are welded together to form an undulating structure that acts as a folded plate. Ribs follow lines of constant slope and reinforce longitudinally. Struts brace and stiffen the structure. The columns gather the struts and load the pier on its evenly spaced beams. The sunshelter is most open along the axis of view or along the longitudinal axis of the pier. Each day the canopy totally eclipses the sun at high noon.
TURNED WOODEN BOWL VIENNA, AUSTRIA
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A bowl whose form,“base,” top edge and section is determined by the intersection of a sphere, (outside of bowl), and a ellipsoid, (inside of bowl). This geometry is volatile—a slight shift radically changes the form of the bowl. This shift is inevitable in the turning process; therefore, each time the bowl is made, it has a different form—from a very subtle curve to a very dramatic one.
1 Bowl drawing. 2 Bowl profile. 3 Bowl from above.
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H20 FURNITURE BANGKOK, THAILAND
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This furniture was designed and built for a house in Bangkok, Thailand. Bangkok is a city of extreme water conditions. It is a city of waterways with a water table close to the ground’s surface. Each year there is a dry season when everything is covered with a fine light mud colored dust and a rainy season when snakes emerge. The house is like a tank that holds this environment. The living room has a green-grey granite floor; a canal with a glass floor runs along side, bringing light through the water to the level below. The furniture was conveived as inhabitants of this tank-like house—inhabitants of the different aquatic states. We developed the designs of the furniture from conceptual sketches into shop drawings through models and prototypes, supervised and coordinated the fabrication involving numerous materials and trades and were involved in the fabrication of several of the pieces directly ourselves. A few designs were fabricated in Thailand from our prototypes and drawings.
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1 House in Thailand / site for furniture: living room. 2 Watercolor drawing of H20 Furniture. 3 Chair model and prototype. 4 Cloud Chair model and construction sequence.
A pair of cast glass blocks forms a comfortable seat. Repeated, the four blocks form the seating for two and the undulating surface of the River Bench. The frame is constructed of milled and bolted stainless steel elements. The frame elements are faceted to receive and hold the glass—much like a gem setting.
Cloud Chair suspends the sitter in a relaxed way. The chair seems to float; its legs tethering it to the floor. Bluish leather, neoprene padded upholstery, down and foam filled cushion, fiberglass shell, milled stainless steel legs.
The bottom surface of the Puddle Table is shaped to follow the natural curve that a hanging form takes. Steel cables sit in grooves and suspend the table top between the four legs. Cast glass, stainless steel cable, milled and bolted stainless steel frame.
The traditionally constructed Underwater Chair. The swell of the inside of the chair gently holds the sitter upright and submerged. Asparagus leather, horse-hair and cotton padded upholstery, ash frame, milled stainless steel feet.
An extremely comfortable daybed, the Wave Daybed. one finds the undulation that fits. The bolster can be placed to cancel out a hollow. Quilted fabric covering, foam upholstery, wood frame, milled stainless steel feet.
The design for Fossil Rug is based upon the fossil beds that are formed in sedimentary material in riverbeds.
3sixØ Architecture
3sixØ Architecture
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